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Amazon unveils the Fire TV microconsole - EA, Disney, Gameloft, Ubisoft, and others on board

All this for $99

Amazon unveils the Fire TV microconsole - EA, Disney, Gameloft, Ubisoft, and others on board
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On a rainy morning in New York City, Amazon unveiled its long-anticipated Android-powered microconsole, the Amazon Fire TV.

Only, it's not just a microconsole.

It's a capable video streaming device powered by a quad core CPU, a dedicated GPU, and 2GB of RAM that can stream music and photos to your big screen TV.

Also, it can handle games - something which Amazon mentioned almost as an afterthought at the end of its pitch.

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Confusingly, however, Amazon has also sunk a ton of resources into developing new, exclusive titles for the Fire TV via its Amazon Games Studio - including the futuristic shooter Sev Zero (above).

But Amazon won't be going it alone with games on the Fire TV.

EA, Disney, Gameloft, Ubisoft, and 2K are all on board with the Fire TV, and Amazon's already announced the availability of Minecraft-Pocket Edition, The Walking Dead, NBA 2K14, Asphalt 8, Riptide GP 2, and Despicable Me: Minion Rush for the new device.

Amazon also noted that the average price of a paid game on Fire TV will be about $1.85 (~£1.10) although Sev Zero carries a $6.99 (£4.99) price tag.

Control? Freak.

The only catch for gamers is that the twin-stick controller - that we saw a few weeks ago - costs $40 extra, but it comes bundled with $10 in Amazon Coins that you can use to purchase games and a copy of Sev Zero to boot.

If you'd rather not spend on the added controller, you can use the Fire TV's small, native remote instead - or you can download an upcoming app that'll let you use a smartphones or tablet as a controller.

While the options are nice, these control choices present a sticking point for developers interested in getting onto the Fire TV as they'll need to add support for the various controller schemas to their games.

For more information on the admittedly slick Amazon Fire TV, you can head over to its official listing and see why it's "Great for gaming, too".

Matthew Diener
Matthew Diener
Representing the former colonies, Matt keeps the Pocket Gamer news feed updated when sleepy Europeans are sleeping. As a frustrated journalist, diehard gamer and recovering MMO addict, this is pretty much his dream job.